From: DnRdl@aol.com
Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2001 17:32:56 EDT
Subject: "Fateful meeting" by Daniela Riedel
Source: direct

Title: Fateful meeting
Rating: R (safe is safe)
Category: story/romance/angst
Classification: MSR/ pre-XF/rape
Spoilers: none
Summary: A young Fox Mulder finds a young woman in the park who 
was raped. He takes care of her and finds so much more...
Disclaimer: I don't own Dana Scully, Fox Mulder and the Scully family. 
They all belong to CC, FOX and 1013... unfortunately.
Dedication: For tanja who for some reason likes my stories and always 
encourages me to write more... thanks for the support:)

~ Fateful meeting ~

Fox Mulder was walking through the Public Garden in 
Baltimore one night when he heard something from nearby. 
He stopped walking and just listened for awhile. His fears 
grew when he realized that it sounded like a woman sobbing. 
Following the direction of the sound he went looking. What 
he found behind a couple of bushes and little trees made his 
heart ache. The sound alone was terrible enough to hear but 
seeing the person to it increased this feeling even more. On 
the ground in front of him lay a young woman curled up in a 
tight ball crying her eyes out. From what he could see in the 
dim light he assumed her clothes were torn. He knew for 
sure that if he would approach her too fast now she would get 
frightened and wouldn't allow him to help but he couldn't let 
it happen. 

"Miss?" he asked softly having decided for speaking before 
moving. But she didn't reply only curled up even more if 
possible, ignoring him.

"Miss, can I help you? Are you alright?" What a stupid 
question, he thought, it was more than obvious that she was 
not alright.

"I won't let you stay here all by yourself. So, please," he 
almost begged now. He hated to be useless when he knew 
that he could indeed help, "please... let me help you. What's 
wrong? Are you hurt?"

Finally, she showed a reaction if only a little one. She looked 
up at him with her teary eyes, pleading for help with them 
but not saying a single word. She seemed to try to decide 
whether she should let this stranger help her or not. 
Something about the way he talked to her and the 
desperation in his voice although they didn't even know each 
other made her open up to him - well, at least she looked at 
him.

He took this as a sign to approach her. He walked the few 
final steps to her and knelt down next to her. But still he 
didn't dare to touch her. Little by little her self-protective pose 
loosened up and she sat up slowly. He reached out a hand 
then not being able to resist anymore and, because she didn't 
avoid his touch, smoothed a stray of hair out of her face and 
cupped her cheek taking a look at her face. She looked so 
incredibly helpless and fragile and the sadness in her bright 
blue eyes hit him hard. 

He tried talking to her again, "Are you hurt somewhere?"

Her sobbing and crying had just stopped for a few moments 
but his tender voice asking her about injuries made her lips 
trembling again and the tears started flowing again. He 
immediately regretted the question but nevertheless took it as 
a yes and moreover as a sign that she needed medical care.
He stroked her cheek once more wishing he could take away 
some of her obvious pain then picked her up in his arms. 
Luckily, she let it happen either because she was too weak to 
fight him or because she was grateful for the help.

He walked back to the main path and, ignoring the weird 
looks he got from the people around them, held her in his 
arms tightly. For him she was light as a feather so he had no 
problems increasing his speed with her almost running to the 
hospital nearby. Everything that mattered to him in this 
moment was the woman in his arms. 

He ran into the emergency room with her and almost 
screamed at the staff to get her a doctor. The requests he 
should calm down went unheard in his ears. He just wanted 
to know that she was taken care of. Finally, some one got 
them a stretcher and he layed her down on it. She was rolled 
away to be examined. He wanted to follow but this time a 
nurse was able to stop him.

"Are you her husband?"

"No."

"A family member?"

"No, I just... found her like this in the park and I brought 
her here."

"Then sir, I'm afraid you can't follow or see her until her 
family is here. You know her name?"

"No, dammit, I told you I don't know her. I just FOUND 
her."

"Then I'm afraid I have to ask you to leave. You can't do 
anything and you're NOT allowed to see her."

His shoulder slumped down when he realized he didn't have 
a chance. He took one last longing glance in the direction 
where she was taken to then turned away and left. The nurse 
blew out a deep breath, relieved that she had finally 
convinced him to go. For a person who didn't know her he 
surely made much trouble. But maybe he had recognized the 
signs, too. A young woman found in a park at night with her 
clothes torn apart could mean only one thing...

When he got home this night he couldn't stop thinking 
about what had happened earlier. Something like this had 
never happened to him... luckily. It was a terrible feeling to 
find her. He had felt so helpless and unsure of what to do. 
She had been so fragile and seemed so little in his arms. He 
wanted to see her again if only to see how bad she was hurt 
and if she was getting better. He couldn't just keep this in 
mind as a good boyscout-action and live on. He had to know 
how she was doing. Determined to try again to be allowed to 
see her he went to sleep though it didn't come easily that 
night. He just couldn't get the image of her laying there out of 
his mind. But finally the exhaustion took over and he drifted 
off...

As soon as he was up the next morning he drove to the 
hospital. It was only when he entered it that he realized that 
he didn't know her name and in which section she was in. 
How should he find her? He decided to give it a try. Maybe 
someone recognized him.

"Hello, ehm... I hope you can help me," he greeted the nurse 
at the information desk.

"What can I do for you, sir?"

"I'm looking for a patient."

"Does this patient have a name?"

"That's my problem, I don't know it. I found her in the park 
yesterday and I brought her here because I feared she might 
be injured."

"I'm not sure I know who you mean, wait a second." She 
went to get some medical records.

"When was she taken here again?"

"Yesterday." Mulder got more and more impatient.

"Here, I think I found her... a woman, early twenties, red 
hair, small and... her injuries... well."

"Yes?" He hoped she would tell him but she didn't. 

Instead, "you're not a family member?"

Not again... "No, I'm not."

"Oh but I think her family is here, so I think you can try to 
see her. Her room is down the hall, the third on the right 
side."

Finally, he had the information he wanted. 

"Thank you very much for your help," and with that he was 
on his way.

When he arrived at the door she had told him he stopped 
taking a deep breath. He didn't know how she would react 
when she saw him or if she even remembered him and what 
would happen. He knocked on the door before entering. 

Many eyes turned his way as soon as he stepped into the 
room. The nurse had told him that her family was here so he 
had expected her parents and maybe a sibling but the room 
was filled with people. Two people who obviously were her 
parents but apart from that three other people, a woman 
slightly older and two men. Maybe one of them was her 
boyfriend. 

"Sir, I think you got the wrong door." One of the men 
probably her father said to him. He realized he hadn't said a 
word yet to explain his appearence.

"Ehm, I think... I'm right. Sorry, my name is Fox Mulder, I 
was the one who brought her here last night and..." He 
didn't get the chance to speak any further for her mother 
went over to him seemingly suddenly very glad to see him. 

"I don't know how to thank you. You saved her life, thank 
you so much. We owe you all very much."

He smiled a little at the woman in front of him but his 
attention was drawn to the one laying in the bed. It was the 
first time he took a real look at her. She is beautiful, was his 
first thought. Although she had swollen eyes and a cut on her 
upper lip her face looked beautiful to him. The blue eyes he 
had noticed last night shone a little more today and her 
flaming red hair framed her face nicely. Realizing that he was 
staring at her he found his words again.

"Ehm, I just... wanted to see how you were doing." He said 
to her.

They looked into each others eyes for a few silent moments 
before her mother broke the silence.

"Okay guys, let's give them some moments alone. We'll wait 
outside sweetheart, we'll be back soon, alright?"

"Okay, thanks mom."

Everybody except Fox left the room. He watched them all 
leave before bringing his eyes back to the woman in the bed.

"It was pretty difficult to find you without knowing your 
name," he said unsure of what to talk about.

"But you found me... twice," she added the last with sadness.

"Yes." Finally he went some steps towards her bed and took 
the chair next to it.

"By the way, my name is Dana, Dana Scully and... ehm I 
don't know how to thank you. I don't know what would have 
happened if you wouldn't have come and found me."

"Hi Dana, I'm Fox... and don't worry about this. I'm very 
glad, too, that I found you. To be honest I couldn't get this 
whole incident out of my mind. That's why I came back 
looking for you."

There was a moment of silence and both looked down to 
their hands avoiding the other's eyes.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked tentatively.

"You want to know what happened to me last night, right?"

He just nodded. She knew this question would come. 
Usually one wouldn't tell a stranger something like this but 
she remembered the weird feeling she had had last night. 
Although a horrible thing had happened to her she wasn't 
really afraid of him as if she was absolutely sure that he 
wouldn't do her any harm, as if she could trust him blindly 
without knowing him.

She took a deep breath and he looked up at her sensing her 
hesitation.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want."

"It's okay... I was... when I walked home through the park 
last night some one... attacked me from behind. He... 
grabbed me and pulled me behind those bushes. I tried to 
scream and to escape but he was much stronger and put his 
hand over my mouth. Then he..." She paused for a moment 
gathering up her courage, "started tearing my clothes apart 
and then he.. he raped me." Her last words were just a 
whisper but he heard them. 

While she talked he had to swallow hard at what she told 
him. He knew of course that those horrible things happened 
but hearing about it from a direct victim and he was 
speechless and shocked. His instincts threatened to overtake 
him again - he wanted to take her in his arms and 
never let go again to protect her from everything.

"I don't know..."

"You don't have to say anything. There was no chance for 
you to prevent it."

"But if I would have been there a little bit earlier maybe..."

"No, that's okay. Really. I'm very thankful for you being there 
last night... and also today. I hoped that I would see you 
again to at least thank you but that you would visit me..."

"As I said I couldn't stop thinking about it."

She looked towards the door for a brief moment and saw that 
her father and brothers were watching them through the 
round window in the door. She smiled at the picture. He was 
confused by her action.

"What are you smiling at?"

"Nothing, just that my father and brothers are watching us."

"Oh... well, I'd better leave now. They surely want to be with 
you and I don't want to disturb. I just wanted to see you."

"Okay, again thank you so much for everything you've done."

He stood up from the chair preparing to leave again. In the 
last moment he turned around once again.

"Dana?" he asked and she looked up.

"Yes?"

"Can I... I would like to visit you again... if you don't mind, 
of course."

Was that happiness he saw in her eyes for a short moment?

"I would like that, too. Sure you can come."

He left the room then and after talking to her parents again 
for a moment left the hospital with a strange mixture of 
feelings. On the one hand he felt absolute rage and hatred 
against all people who were able to hurt other people so 
much, men who were able to rape woman like Dana or even 
children... but on the other hand he was somehow very 
happy. He had liked Dana's company and after the initial 
nervousness he found it pretty easy to talk to her. Moreover, 
her smile was something to die for.

During the following week he visited her every day. They got 
more and more comfortable with each other and talked about 
every little detail of their lives exchanging memories of the 
past. They learned what the other was doing, he was with the 
FBI working for the VCS if only for a few days now and she 
was still studying medicine at the University of Maryland. 
She lived in the university's dorm and he was just looking for 
a new apartment near Washington. Within a few days they 
seemed to know everything about the other. They both 
enjoyed being together. It was amazing for her family to 
watch how close they had grown during those few days. 

On the day of her release she almost feared that their contact 
would break up now. She realized how important he had 
become already. But he surprised her by asking her out on 
this day.

"Dana, as much as I enjoyed the time we passed in this 
hospital room I'm glad you come out now." It almost 
sounded like a good-bye... almost.

"I'm glad because now we can do some more. I would like to 
take walks with you, eat dinner, go to the movies."

She was stunned at his wishes. Sure she liked him very much 
but she hadn't expected him to ask her something like that. 
She smiled at him then.

"Sounds good to me, what do we do tomorrow then?"

"You'll see," and with that he said his good-bye for now 
leaving her to pack her things and wait for her family.

He took her to the fairground in Baltimore on that evening. 
They had lots of fun together and he was relieved to see her 
smile and laugh so much. Although they were only there as 
friends both realized something during this evening --they 
had fallen in love with each other. His caring, charm and not 
to forget his good looks made it easy for her, step by step she 
had fallen for him. He had felt that she had needed some one 
to help her and he was there but afterwards when he got to 
know her better he wanted even more to be there for her and 
take care of her. She was the woman who was worth every 
trouble. But only during this evening when they were 
together on their first more or less official date, it wasn't really 
meant as a date, they realized their feelings and admitted 
them - if only to themselves.

The next weeks flew by rather quickly. They saw each other 
regularely going out or just talking. Every time they met they 
felt their feelings grow even more but both were afriad to say 
something. Mulder also had the fear that if he would say 
something she might be remembered of her last "encounter" 
with a man. 

Together they had managed to work through what happened 
to her. He helped her with every little step of the healing 
process though they knew for sure that she would never really 
forget it. But it was so much easier to come over it  
knowing that there was some one who cared and who she 
loved dearly. She visited a psychotherapist every week and the 
doctor even wanted to talk to Fox about her. It was 
amazing for other people to watch those two and sense their 
strong bond. A complete stranger who, by some fateful 
reason, was there in her hour of need turned out to be her 
strongest support now.

One evening there was a party they wanted to go to. As 
always he picked her up from her dorm refusing to have it 
any other way. 

"Hi Dana, you ready to dance the night away?" He asked 
being in a wonderful mood.

"Sure I am, let's go." She took the arm he offered her and 
they made their way outside. 

It was a university party, one of Dana's friends had invited 
her over and she had been happy with it knowing that Fox 
and she always wanted to a party where they could dance the 
whole night. She was sure it would be fun. They both had 
been looking forward to it.

When they made their way over to the building where the 
event took place they walked across the dark campus area. 
She knew nothing would happen to her but nevertheless she 
felt a little frightened. Fox sensed her feelings and pulled her 
tighter against his side. She was grateful for it and let it 
happen hesitating only for the briefest moment before 
putting her arm around his waist like he had done a second 
earlier. She enjoyed their closeness well aware of the fact that 
it could be so much better if only one of them had the 
courage to say something aloud.

"You okay, Dana? You look a bit pale." He said concerned 
although he had her safe by his side.

"Yeah, I'm fine, it's only that I don't like walking in dark 
places anymore."

"Yes, I know," he said bitterly knowing of course why she felt 
this way. "But I'm here with you."

"Thanks," she said simply and gave him a beautiful smile.

From the moment they arrived at the party he didn't let her 
out of his sight for a single moment... and she didn't mind at 
all. She talked to her friends and introduced him to 
everybody. She was well aware that she didn't only get 
friendly looks. Some of the girls really seemed to envy her of 
her company. He's mine, she thought with a smile. But only 
a second later a voice in her head reminded her - no, he's 
not. But none of the girls knew this and she enjoyed being 
envied for him. He on his part either didn't acknowledge the 
looks or didn't mind, too.

He saw his chance to be a bit closer to the woman of his 
dreams when a rather slow song was played. 

"Dana, you want to dance?" He asked trying to sound as 
casual as possible.

"Sure," she answered happy that he made the first move. She 
wanted a slow dance with him since they had arrived but 
didn't dare to ask. Now he had. They made their way to the 
dance floor and immediately molded together.

Their arms wound around each other they enjoyed the song 
and the closeness of the other. He could die happy now and 
she closed her eyes and was in heaven. It felt like an eternity 
but it was actually a few minutes later when they moved apart 
for a few inches to look into the other's eyes. But before 
anything more happened the slow song ended and a faster 
beat streamed out of the speakers destroying the magic 
moment which was about to come up.

But they had gone there to dance so they did for the next 
hour or so never changing the partner once. Fast songs, slow 
songs - they danced to everything together. Sometimes but 
very seldom they looked around the room a little but mostly 
all that existed were the two of them. 

This time it was Dana who took a look around and that's 
when she stopped moving. She stood rooted to the spot not 
believing her eyes, not believing who she saw there near the 
bar. Thank god the music slowed down a bit again so she 
moved close to Fox easily.

"Fox?" she said never taking his eyes from the bar.

"Yes?" He looked down at her and saw the expression on her 
face knowing something was terribly wrong. "What's 
wrong?"

"He's here."

"Who do you mean? Who's here?" He knew it wasn't 
someone she was happy to see.

"The man who...," Tears welled up in her eyes and Fox knew 
who she meant.

"The man who did this to you?" Both didn't like to use the 
word rape. It was too painful.

She just nodded. He cradled her face and made her look at 
his face.

"Where is he?"

"Over there by the bar, the one with the black t-shirt with the 
22-print on it." She didn't look away from Fox relieved that 
he was with her even more now than before. He held her 
close to him while turning his head to look to the bar. 
Sudden rage surfaced in him and he couldn't stop his 
actions. He kissed her forehead softly, then left her and 
stormed over to the bar. His hands formed a fist before he 
even arrived there. Standing in front of this bastard he just 
turned the man towards him and punched him in the 
stomach once. The man immediately went down clutching 
his middle section. Tears welled up in his eyes now, too as he 
saw the man who had done this to Dana and he ticked out 
completely. He began kicking him furiously screaming at 
him.

"Why, you bastard, why? How could you do this? Why?" 
Over and over he screamed the same. Soon a huge crowd of 
party guests gathered around them and the music was cut. 
His screams got even louder with no music.

"How could you rape a woman? Do you know what you did 
to her? You bastard."

Finally some one pushed Fox away and several people held 
him back from continuing. But although he was stopped 
everybody could understand why he had done it... to a rapist. 
The man wasn't even able to stand up or even move. Some 
one was wise enough to call the police to get the man 
arrested. Slowly Fox managed to calm down a bit again and 
he was aware of his surroundings, the people around him. 
Dana! His thoughts went to her immediately. Where was 
she? He convinced the people holding him that he was okay 
again and he searched the crowd for her. Not finding her he 
fought his way through the mass of people. He just had to 
find her. But what if she was furious at him now for getting 
so violent? What if she hated him now?

There, in a corner of the room he spotted her. She sat on the 
ground, her knees pulled up to her chest and her head buried 
behind her legs. He went to her and crouched in front of her,

"Dana? Dana, please look at me." He touched her hair and 
she lifted her head. Her face had tearstains and her lip was 
trembling. It reminded him so much of the night when he 
had found her in the park, and the feeling was painful 
because he knew he had caused the pain *she* was feeling 
now.

"Why?" she asked silently.

"I'm so sorry. I know it was wrong. I'm sorry. Please Dana," 
he pleaded with her to give him a little piece of 
understanding.

"I know you are. You know what? I'm not really mad at you. 
It felt... it felt so *good* to see him being punched like this. 
For all the pain he caused me I somehow felt it was right... 
but I know it's not." There was a certain degree of relief 
within him after her words.

"It was wrong but... I just felt he deserved it so much. I saw 
how much you were hurting by this and this... well... I just 
wanted to play justice."

Suddenly he realized something. He wouldn't have done this 
if he wouldn't love her so much. He was blind with rage 
seeing the man who had caused *his* Dana pain. He knew he 
had to tell her now so she would understand his actions.

"Dana, I... I can't even begin to describe what I felt when you 
told me he's here. There was so much running through my 
head but there was one thought that got me in rage like this - 
love. It sounds weird but I just thought that no one is 
allowed to hurt the woman I love." She looked up at him 
with her teary eyes with surprise and shock.

"I love you so much Dana and since the day I found you in 
the park I had this urge to protect you so that nobody could 
ever do this to you again. Then I got to know you better and I 
fell hopelessly in love with you."

The tears started to flow again at his words but at the same 
time she smiled at him. She cradled his face with her small 
hands.

"How does any woman deserve a man like you?"

"Nobody does, only you. I love you Dana."

"I love you too," was everything she could say at the moment 
being utterly happy to know this man and to have him love 
her was even better.

Hearing her words he didn't hesitate for a moment to take 
her in his arms almost crushing her to him. Again he wished 
to be able to mold her body to his so that he would never let 
her go again.

"How about we leave now, I want you out of this place." He 
said after releasing her rather unwillingly.

"Yes, take me some place else," she answered ready to go 
everywhere with him.

"Okay, come on." He stood up and extended a hand in order 
to help her standing up, too. She took it and didn't let go 
again but holding it tightly and entwining their fingers. They 
were almost out of there when the police arrived. Of course 
they wanted to know what happened and who had punched 
the man still laying on the ground.

Dana and Fox went over to the officers and explained 
everything. The police didn't wait a second to get the man 
into custody after hearing the story. Fox wasn't out of trouble 
for his "explosion" but the fact that he was a FBI-agent made 
everything easier. They took his badge number and some 
other information and let them go. They would question him 
tomorrow. 

Fox led Dana outside and they began walking towards her 
dorm. They were inseperable now. There wasn't an inch 
space between their bodies. In the middle of their walk he 
suddenly stopped. He turned her towards him and encircled 
her body with both arms now. She looked up at him 
questioning with her eyes.

"I know it was a horrible night and you don't like dark places 
but I wanted to give you something to remember this day a 
slightest bit more positive. Moreover I think I might die if I 
don't do this in the next moments."

She still didn't seem to get it so he showed her what he 
meant. He gave her the softest of kisses afraid to frighten her 
if he demanded too much. When he felt her responding to 
the kiss it intensfied quickly. Her arms went around his neck 
and pulled him still closer to her. She felt like being in 
heaven all over again.

"God, I love you and I never want to be apart from you ever 
again." She said lingering on the taste of him on her lips.

"I totally agree to that." He said smiling at her.

"So you don't leave me tonight?"

He swallowed. Did she really mean that or does she just feel 
that she owes it to him.

"Are you really sure. I understand if you don't want. Maybe 
you need some time alone to work through tonight's events."

"No, I'm absolutely sure of it. Fox I don't want to be alone 
tonight and I would have asked you anyway. But knowing we 
love each other makes it so much better. Please, don't leave 
me now." She pleaded with him.
He would have done everthing for her in this moment.

"I stay with you. I couldn't leave you now anyway."

They looked at each other for a moment then kissed some 
more - gentle and soft, enjoying the feeling. Then he turned 
them again and they walked towards her room. 

Nothing could seperate them now and nothing would ever be 
able to. They were sure that they both needed some time to 
work through this rape and that they would never completely 
forget about it but they were aware of their love and this was 
stronger than everything else. Together they would make it 
through this and also through life.

End of the story